The “freshman 15” is a real problem encountered by first-year students. When college students leave their parents’ houses and begin feeding themselves, they often find they don’t know how to sustain healthy, nutritious diets.
Food on campus runs the gambit from healthy to unhealthy. When students eat at the cafeteria, there is no parent telling them to stop eating cereal every morning and pizza every afternoon and evening. Students’ diets are their own responsibilities.
Eating healthy is as simple as choosing healthy foods instead of junk food, but this isn’t easy. Temptation is everywhere and students have to make the conscious decision to go for a salad and water with their meals instead of pizza and a soft drink.
A healthy diet increases students’ health and energy level astronomically. It’s not always an easy thing to do, but it is worth it when you are healthy several years down the line.
Another part of a healthy lifestyle students struggle with is exercise. It is often incredibly difficult to gather enough energy to go to the gym, but being fit will make students feel better about themselves, besides all the obvious benefits of exercise.
Many people hate going to the gym because they feel self-conscious or like they will be made fun of, but not everyone who goes to the gym can be in perfect shape immediately. Everyone has to start at a lower level of fitness to work themselves up to a better state of fitness.
Do exercises you enjoy. Unenjoyable exercise leads to excuses to skip the gym. If cardio is fun, do that. An obsession with protein shakes and creatine is not required to be healthy.
A gym is also not required. Many people don’t want to pay to do things they can do outside for free. There are plenty of exercises to do outside a gym.
Running, biking and even calisthenics such as push-ups can be done safely outside. A good workout is an enjoyable one that makes students feel healthy while staying safe and free of injuries. Always be sure to learn proper technique for exercises. This will save a lot of pain and injury over decades of exercise.
Avoiding unhealthy weight gain is simple, but not easy. All it takes is putting aside a little time to exercise and avoiding eating too much unhealthy food, but students must find their own tools to help them stay healthy and keep the extra weight off.
